Andrew Welsh-Huggins

About Andrew Welsh-Huggins: Andrew Welsh-Huggins grew up in Lima, NY and attended Kenyon College in Gambier where he majored in Classics. After college he studied Gaelic in Ireland and volunteered on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation in South Dakota, then worked as a freelance writer in Providence, RI. He was a newspaper reporter in Bloomington, Indiana, and Youngstown, Ohio, before moving to Columbus in 1998 to join the Associated Press as a legal affairs reporter.

Andrew Welsh-Huggins' Speaking Engagements: A mystery author, Andrew offers a micro-mystery writing workshop where he gives "Five Tips for Getting Started on Your First Crime Fiction Novel," discusses how he created his character, and answers any and all questions. Audience: Adult.

THE HUNT (2017): As a serial killer stalks prostitutes in Columbus, Ohio, a distraught brother asks private investigator Andy Hayes to find his sister before it's too late. In a deadly race against time, Hayes soon learns he's not the only person hunting Jessica Byrnes, but he may be the only one who wants her alive.

Byrnes hasn't been seen in weeks following a downward slide that started as a runaway teenager and may have ended permanently on the streets. Assisting Hayes is Theresa Sullivan, once a prostitute herself, now an outreach worker at St. Andrew's, the mission church run by Hayes' pal the Rev. Roy Roberts, an Episcopal priest less than keen on Theresa reliving the memories that nearly killed her. A local congresswoman making headlines with her work against human trafficking puts pressure on Hayes to solve the case, while the police don't want him near their exhaustive search for the murderer. Hayes' low tolerance for bad behavior is tested as his hunt for Jessica exposes the buying and selling of trafficked women across the region.

CAPITOL PUNISHMENT (2016): The job seems simple enough: Reporter Lee Hershey needs protection for a couple of weeks as he pursues the biggest story of his career with all eyes on swing state Ohio in the midst of a presidential election. Columbus private eye Andy Hayes, broke as usual, doesn't have much choice but to sign on, even with his girlfriend falling for the charming journalist.

Then murder strikes at the Statehouse and Andy finds himself partly responsible for the death. With an innocent man behind bars, a mysterious vehicle following Andy around the city, and more lives in danger, the detective has his hands full trying to solve a killing in a poisonous political environment where everyone has a motive for murder and anyone could be the next target.